Earthquake-proof building.



0. RUHL. EARTHQUAKE PRO 0F BUILDING. APPLICATION I'ILED MAR. 11, 1909,

Patented Jan.17,191 1.'

v THE Noxms PETERS co., wnsumarou o c unrrnn srarn sra rnnr orrion.

OTTO RUHL, OF BREMEN, GERMANY.

EARTHQUAKE-PROOF BUILDING.

Application filed March 11, 1909.

scribed in connection with the accompany-' ing drawings and will be more particularly pointed out and ascertained in and by the appended claims.

In the drawing :Figure l is a horizontal sectional view of a foundation with a building thereon showing one embodiment of my invention. Fig. 2, is a vertical sectional view of a building mounted on my improved foundation.

Like characters of reference designate similar parts throughout the different figures.

As shown the building may consist of a super-structure E of any desirable construction, and disposed upon a basement structure F. As shown the basement structure F is formed of reinforced concrete and is in an integral mass.

Foundation elements are shown at G and may consist of caissons or any other desirable form of construction. On the elements G bearing members 9 are shown and corresponding bearing members f are secured to the bottom of the basement structure F.

In the construction shown a foundation pit H is sunk below the ground level I and is of such dimension as to form a space h between the basement structure F and the side walls of the foundation pit H. The bearing members f and g retain the basement structure F out of contact with the bottom of the foundation pit and in order to retain the earth of the side walls of the pit in place a protecting lining wall J may be provided. It will be seen from the foregoing that the building is supported solely upon the foundation elements G through the bearing members f and g.

One of the objects of the present invention is to so arrange the foundation elements Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 17, 1911.

Serial No. 482,816.

as to bring the'same outside of the center of gravity of the building and to so dispose said elements as to permit the building to rock as a whole thereon when said elements are successively elevated or depressed as the result of surface undulations of the earth. The preferred arrangement is to provide threefoundation elements disposed at the vertices of the lines of a triangle intersecting three walls of the basement structure I It will be seen by reference to Fig. 1 that if an undulating wave movement of the earths surface is passing in the direction of arrow 1 it would first lift the nearest element U, which for convenience will be designated as a and the building would rock as a whole upon the bearing members of the element {r and the bearing members of the elements :17 and m and the building will be slightly oscillated or rocked bodily without being subjected to any wrenching or torsional strain such as would occur if one corner 0 of the building were lifted with the remaining corners a, b and (Z unable to partake of the lifting movement of the corner 0.

It will be readily understood that if a bearing member were provided under each of the corners of the building and one corner 0 were lifted by a surface undulation the tendency of corner a would be to lower but owing to the presence of the foundation under corner a it could not lower and hence the structure would be subjected to an injurious wrenching action which in the case of a brick structure seriously cracks the walls. It will be noted that when the undulation reaches arrow 2 it will not afiect the building at all owing to the distance of the lower portion of the basement F above the level of the foundation pit H. Thus it will be seen that foundation elements according to my present invention are not subject to the defects of a continuous foundation which latter form simply cracks and breaks when the crest of an undulation reaches a central portion thereof. By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that regardless of the direction of the undulation the building will adjust itself as a whole by rocking on its foundation leaving the corner portions free to rise or lower as the case may be.

I claim 1. An earthquake neutralizing building construction comprising in combination, three permanently fixed rigid fulcrum supporting elements arranged to coincide with the apices of a triangle and horizontally disposed, and a building structure unconnected with and supported wholly on said elements and disposed thereon to bring the center of gravity between the boundaries of the triangle formed by said elements to permit the building to rock on its fulcrum mountings as the same are successively raised or lowcred.

2. An earthquake neutralizing building construction comprising in combination, three permanently fixed rigid fulcrum supporting elements arranged to coincide with the apices of a triangle and horizontally disposed and having their upper portions re duced with respect to their lower or main body portions, and a building structure unconnected with and supported wholly on the reduced upper ends of said elements and disposed thereon to bring the center of gravity between triangular lines intersecting the reduced upper portions of said elements to permit the building to rock on its fulcrum mountings as the same are successively raised or lowered.

3. An earthquake resisting building construction comprising in combination, a rectangular basement structure, a superstructure mounted on said basement structure, three permanently fixed foundation elements triangularly arranged and horizontally disposed and spaced apart from each other laterally of the center of gravity of and supporting said super-structure, and arranged to act as fulcrunis on which said structure may bodily rock upon elevation or depression of said elements in succession.

4;. An earthquake resisting building construction comprising in combination, a foundation pit exceeding the dimensions of the building and sunk below the ground level, a vertically disposed continuous protecting lining wall for said pit, three permanently fixed foundation elements triangularly arranged and horizontally disposed in the bottom of said pit and spaced apart from each other, and a building structure disposed 011 said elements and reduced in size with respect to said vertical lining wall, said elements being arranged at points at one side of the corners of said building.

5. An earthquake neutralizing building construction comprising in combination, three permanently fixed rigid fulcrum supporting elements arranged to coincide with the apices of a triangle and horizontally disposed and having their portions reduced with respect to their lower or main body portions, and a building structure unconnected with and supported wholly by said elements and having three members provided with reduced lower ends supported on the reduced upper ends of said elements to support said structure, said structure being disposed on said elements to bring thecenter of gravity between triangular lines in- V tersecting the reduced upper portions of said element-s to permit the building to rock on its fulcrum mountings as the same are successively raised or lowered. v

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

OTTO RUHL. W'itnesses FREDERICK HOYERMANN, RUDoLr VON GAND. 

